    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George W. Bush (2004, Book III)]
    [December 8, 2004]
    [Pages 3058-3061]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Statement on Signing the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2005
    December 8, 2004

        Today, I have signed into law H.R. 4818, the ``Consolidated
    Appropriations Act, 2005'' (CAA). The CAA, consisting of eleven
    Divisions, consolidates into a single Act several appropriations bills
    that the Congress normally passes separately each year to fund the
    operations of the Federal Government, and also several bills that are
    not normally part of an appropriations bill.
        Many provisions of the CAA are inconsistent with the constitutional
    authority of the President to conduct foreign affairs, command the Armed
    Forces, protect sensitive information, supervise the unitary executive
    branch, make appointments, and make recommendations to the Congress.
    Many other provisions unconstitutionally condition execution of the laws
    by the executive branch upon approval by congressional committees.

        The executive branch shall construe as advisory provisions of the
    CAA that purport to direct or burden the Executive's conduct of foreign
    relations or to limit the President's authority as Commander in Chief.
    Such provisions include: in the Commerce-Justice-State Appropriations
    Act, sections 406, 611, 609, 627, and the provision regarding voting in
    the United Nations Security Council under the heading ``Contributions
    for International Peacekeeping Activities''; in the Foreign Operations
    Appropriations Act, sections 506, 514, 531, 547, 561,

    [[Page 3059]]

    562, 580, 585, 593, and the provisions entitled ``Other Bilateral
    Economic Assistance, Economic Support Fund'' and ``Andean Counterdrug
    Initiative''; as well as in Division J (``Other Matters''), section
    3(b)(3) of the 225th Anniversary of the American Revolution
    Commemoration Act.
        The executive branch shall also construe the provisions of the CAA
    in a manner consistent with the President's authority to supervise the
    unitary executive branch, including the authority to direct which
    officers in the executive branch shall assist the President in
    faithfully executing the law. Such provisions include in the
    Transportation-Treasury Appropriations Act, sections 618 and 628, and
    language relating to review by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB)
    of executive branch orders, activities, regulations, transcripts, and
    testimony, particularly language relating to OMB review of certain
    matters in reports to be submitted to the Congress through the Secretary
    of the Army.
        The executive branch shall construe provisions in the CAA that
    purport to mandate or regulate submission of information to the
    Congress, other entities outside the executive branch, or the public, in
    a manner consistent with the President's constitutional authority to
    withhold information that could impair foreign relations, national
    security, the deliberative processes of the Executive, or the
    performance of the Executive's constitutional duties. Such provisions
    include: in the Agriculture Appropriations Act, section 717; in the
    Commerce-Justice-State Appropriations Act, sections 407, 409, and
    provisions concerning a budget proposal under the heading ``National
    Intellectual Property Law Enforcement Coordination Council''; in the
    Energy and Water Appropriations Act, sections 112, 113, and 503; in the
    Foreign Operations Appropriations Act, section 559; in the Labor-HHS-
    Education Appropriations Act, a provision under the heading ``Department
    of Health and Human Services, Office of the Secretary''; in the
    Transportation-Treasury Appropriations Act, sections 522 and 618; in the
    VA-HUD Appropriations Act, section 210; and in Division J, section 16 of
    the L-1 Visa and H-1B Visa Reform Act.
        The executive branch shall construe provisions of the CAA that
    purport to make consultation with the Congress a precondition to the
    execution of the law as calling for, but not mandating, such
    consultation, as is consistent with the Constitution's provisions
    concerning the separate powers of the Congress to legislate and the
    President to execute the laws. Such provisions include: in the Foreign
    Operations Appropriations Act, sections 509, 512, 543, 569, 588, and
    provisions under the heading ``International Disaster and Famine
    Assistance,'' ``Transition Initiatives,'' ``Andean Counterdrug
    Initiative,'' and ``Debt Restructuring''; and in the Interior and
    Related Agencies Appropriations Act, provisions under the heading
    ``National Park Service, Historic Preservation Fund,'' and
    ``Administrative Provisions, Smithsonian Institution.''
        The executive branch shall construe provisions that purport to
    require or regulate submission by executive branch officials of
    legislative recommendations to the Congress consistently with the
    President's constitutional authority to recommend to the Congress such
    measures as he judges necessary and expedient. Such provisions include:
    in the Agriculture Appropriations Act, section 721; in the Commerce-
    Justice-State Appropriations Act, sections 628 and 902; in the Interior
    and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, section 102; in the
    Transportation-Treasury Appropriations Act, section 404; in the VA-HUD
    Appropriations Act, section 215; and in Division K, section 152 of the
    Small Business Reauthorization and Manufacturing Assistance Act of 2004.
        In section 601 of the Energy and Water Appropriations Act, section 2
    of the amended Tennessee Valley Authority Act shall be construed
    consistently with the President's

    [[Page 3060]]

    constitutional authority to make nominations and appoint officers. So
    that section 522 of the Transportation-Treasury Appropriations Act may
    be faithfully executed, the executive branch shall construe subsection
    (c), which provides that an agency privacy officer's signature on a
    report to the agency inspector general shall constitute verification by
    the officer ``that the agency is only using information in identifiable
    form as detailed in the report'' to mean that the signature constitutes
    verification to the best of the officer's knowledge after diligent
    inquiry.
        The executive branch shall construe as calling solely for
    notification the provisions of the CAA that are inconsistent with the
    requirements of bicameral passage and presentment set forth in the
    Constitution, as construed by the Supreme Court of the United States in
    1983 in INS v. Chadha. Such provisions include: in the Agriculture
    Appropriations Act, sections 705, 718, 736, and a provision under the
    heading ``Food and Drug Administration, Salaries and Expenses''; in the
    Energy and Water Appropriations Act, section 303; in the Interior and
    Related Agencies Appropriations Act, sections 305, 313, 329, 332, 333,
    and provisions under the headings ``United States Fish and Wildlife
    Service, Administrative Provisions,'' ``National Park Service,
    Construction,'' ``Department of the Interior, Departmental Management,
    Salaries and Expenses,'' ``Natural Resource Damage Assessment and
    Restoration, Administrative Provisions,'' ``Forest Service, Wildland
    Fire Management,'' ``Administrative Provisions, Forest Service,''
    ``Indian Health Service, Indian Health Facilities,'' ``Administrative
    Provisions, Indian Health Service,'' and ``Administrative Provisions,
    Smithsonian Institution''; in the Labor-HHS-Education Appropriations
    Act, section 208 and a provision under the heading ``Pension Benefit
    Guaranty Corporation''; in the Transportation-Treasury Appropriations
    Act, sections 201, 211, 212, 217, 218, 403, 510, 511, 614, 623, and 642,
    and provisions under the headings ``Department of Transportation, Office
    of the Secretary, Salaries and Expenses,'' ``Department of
    Transportation, Office of the Secretary, Working Capital Fund,''
    ``Federal Transit Administration, Administrative Expenses,''
    ``Department of the Treasury, Departmental Offices, Salaries and
    Expenses,'' ``Internal Revenue Service, Business Systems
    Modernization,'' ``Office of Administration, Salaries and Expenses,''
    ``High Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas Program,'' and ``Real Property
    Activities, Federal Building Fund, Limitations on Availability of
    Revenue''; and in the VA-HUD Appropriations Act, section 111 and
    provisions under the headings ``Department of Veterans Affairs,
    Departmental Administration, Construction, Minor Projects'' and
    ``National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Administrative
    Provisions.''
        As is consistent with the principle of statutory construction of
    giving effect to each of two statutes addressing the same subject
    whenever they can co-exist, the executive branch shall construe the
    provision in the Energy and Water Appropriations Act under the heading
    ``National Nuclear Security Administration, Weapons Activities''
    concerning transfer of funds from the Department of Defense to
    constitute an ``express authorization of Congress'' to which section
    8063 of the Department of Defense Appropriations Act, 2005 (Public Law
    108-287) refers.
        A number of provisions in the CAA purport to allocate funds for
    specified projects and amounts set forth in the joint explanatory
    statement of managers that accompanied the CAA; to make changes in
    statements of managers that accompanied various appropriations bills
    reported from conferences in the past; or to direct compliance with a
    report of one committee of one House of Congress. The executive branch
    shall construe these provisions in a manner consistent with the
    bicameral passage and presentment requirements of the Constitution for
    the making of a law. Such

    [[Page 3061]]

    provisions include in the Foreign Operations Appropriations Act, section
    595; in the Labor-HHS-Education Appropriations Act, provisions under the
    headings ``Innovation and Improvement,'' ``Rehabilitation Services and
    Disability Research,'' ``Higher Education,'' and ``Institute of
    Education Sciences''; in the Transportation-Treasury Appropriations Act,
    sections 125 and 173; and in the VA-HUD Appropriations Act, provisions
    under the headings ``Community Development Fund'' and ``Department of
    Housing and Urban Development, Management and Administration, Salaries
    and Expenses.''
        Several provisions of CAA relate to race, ethnicity, or gender. The
    executive branch shall construe such provisions in a manner consistent
    with the requirements that the Federal Government afford equal
    protection of the laws under the Due Process Clause of the Fifth
    Amendment to the Constitution.
        Section 12 of the Legislative Branch Appropriations Act authorizes
    overseas travel for members of the U.S. Capitol Police in support of
    travel by Senators. To ensure consistency with the President's
    constitutional authority to conduct the Nation's foreign affairs, the
    executive branch shall construe section 12 as authorizing travel for the
    limited purposes of advance, security, and protective functions in
    support of the official travel of Senators. The executive branch shall
    construe the term ``intelligence gathering'' in section 1007 of the
    Legislative Branch Appropriations Act, which relates to activities of
    the U.S. Capitol Police outside their geographic jurisdiction, as
    limited to collection of information for law enforcement and protective
    functions authorized by other laws relating to the U.S. Capitol Police,
    as any other construction would be inconsistent with the Constitution's
    vesting of the executive power in the President.
        The executive branch shall construe section 638 of the
    Transportation-Treasury Appropriations Act, relating to assignment of
    executive branch employees to perform functions in the legislative
    branch, in a manner consistent with the President's constitutional
    authority to supervise the unitary executive branch and as Commander in
    Chief, and recognizing that the President cannot be compelled to give up
    the authority of his office as a condition of receiving the funds
    necessary to carrying out the duties of his office.

                                                              George W. Bush

     The White House,

     December 8, 2004.

    Note: H.R. 4818, approved December 8, was assigned Public Law No. 108-
    447.